Digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies such as very-high-data-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL) technologies involve selection of profiles for communicating data between customer premises equipment and a network device. The selection may depend on, for example, the spectral environment available to the network device and the specific application for which the equipment is used. Accordingly, selecting communication profiles may require skilled personnel to configure the equipment to operate using selected profiles, assess the quality of the link acquired at the selected profiles, and reconfigure the equipment to operate using different profiles if the quality of the link is unsatisfactory. Consequently, known techniques for selecting profiles for communicating data between customer premises equipment and a network device may be unsatisfactory in certain situations.